A blog documenting the build of a Thunder Ranch 550

Front jack points, chapter 1

Got back into the Spyder this weekend, after several week’s hiatus (vacation, sorting the garage, working the Pagoda Hill Climb in Reading, PA, etc.). Decided to work on the frame extensions to hold the front jack points, since I got the jack points in the mail from Carey Hines.

Got these with the rear points, inner door handles and latch mechanism (we’ll deal with those later). The jack points are solid steel and could lift the car, but these replica ones are bolted to a piece of fiberglass. Screwed to the front valance, they look the part. But I want them to function as original.

First, I cut the holes for the jack points, to give myself something to aim for with the new pieces.

Next, I got a mailing tube for CAD.

The stepped design is necessitated by the fact that I can’t bend this stuff, and I didn’t want to try to butt-weld to the end of the existing tube. So the extensions will be nested about six inches inside the frame rails, and then D-shaped out to the end points, where they will be notched (and gusseted) to accept the jack points. The plate at the notch is 3/16 thick. It’ll hold.

I’ve now got about eight hours in this project. I estimate I’m about halfway done. The things we do for love.